Digital Witch-Hunting in India: How Social Media Revived an Ancient Crime

By Dark Crime Diaries | Investigative Crime Report | August 2025

In India, witch-hunting is not a tale of the distant past. It is a living crime, carried forward through centuries of superstition and social exclusion. For decades, it remained confined to remote villages where poor health infrastructure, illiteracy, and patriarchal dominance made vulnerable women easy targets. But in recent years, this ancient practice has transformed. With the rise of cheap smartphones, widespread internet, and platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook, witch-hunting has entered the digital age.

The result is alarming. What was once whispered rumor in a single hamlet now spreads within minutes across districts. Accusations travel in the form of forwards, audio notes, or even manipulated videos. This transformation has made witch-hunting not only more dangerous but also more difficult to track. We are examining this issue because it represents one of the clearest examples of how technology can amplify age-old social violence in modern India.

The Traditional Cycle of Witch-Hunting

For centuries, witch-hunting in India followed a familiar cycle. A sudden misfortune such as a death in the family, a failed harvest, or an outbreak of disease would spark fear in the community. In the absence of medical understanding, villagers looked for someone to blame. More often than not, the target was a woman: usually a widow, an elderly woman, a Dalit, or someone who resisted patriarchal norms.

Local faith healers, known as ojhas or tantriks, reinforced suspicions. Once an accusation was made, gossip traveled from house to house until anger boiled into mob violence. Victims were humiliated publicly, beaten, and in many cases, killed. According to official NCRB data, more than 2,500 people lost their lives in witch-hunting incidents between 2000 and 2022, with states like Jharkhand, Assam, Odisha, and Bihar reporting the highest numbers.

The important feature of this pattern was its pace. Rumors moved slowly, sometimes taking weeks before violence erupted. The process was deeply local, and the reach of accusations rarely extended beyond neighboring villages.

The Digital Shift: Superstition Meets Smartphones

The arrival of cheap internet changed everything. Since 2016, with mobile data becoming affordable, even the most remote villages have gained access to WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube. This connectivity has given old superstitions a powerful new tool.

• WhatsApp groups now circulate voice notes declaring women as witches.
• Facebook posts spread names and photos, calling for “justice.”
• Local language videos on YouTube or short-form apps often dramatize witchcraft stories and reinforce myths.

In Jharkhand in 2021, a viral WhatsApp audio accused four women of practicing black magic. By the same evening, mobs attacked their homes, killing two. Police later confirmed that the only trigger was the widely forwarded audio clip.

This shows how the digital ecosystem compresses the timeline of violence. What once needed weeks of rumor-building now requires only a few hours. Worse, digital platforms give accusations an illusion of authenticity. If something arrives as a forward or in a video, many believe it must be true.

Why the Digital Form is More Dangerous

The online spread of witch-hunting makes the crime more severe than in its traditional form. The speed, anonymity, and reach of social media intensify its impact.

• Speed: In the past, gossip needed time to spread. Today, a forward can gather a mob within hours.
• Anonymity: Accusers used to be known figures in the community. Now, fake profiles and closed groups circulate allegations without accountability.
• Reach: Earlier, rumors stayed within a single village. Today, one viral post can influence entire districts.
• Illusion of Proof: Edited videos or manipulated images make accusations look “real,” even when completely fabricated.

In Assam in 2022, three neighboring villages attacked the same woman after her photograph circulated on Facebook with claims that she practiced witchcraft. None of the attackers personally knew her; they acted solely on the digital narrative.

The Gendered Impact of Witch-Hunting Online

Although men are occasionally accused, the overwhelming majority of victims are women. Digital witch-hunting has intensified this gendered violence.

• Widows and elderly women are especially vulnerable because they are socially isolated.
• Women who resist male control by refusing remarriage, claiming land rights, or questioning family power are often targeted.
• Once names and photographs circulate online, humiliation becomes permanent, leaving women stigmatized even if they survive the violence.

An NGO report from Jharkhand revealed that in 7 out of 10 cases in 2021, victims were first targeted through social media before physical attacks followed. The internet has not only accelerated witch-hunting but also created a new form of digital harassment that haunts victims long after the mob disperses.

Why Official Data Misses the Digital Trigger

The NCRB records witch-hunting deaths under categories like “murder,” “mob violence,” or “crimes against women.” Nowhere does the database capture the role of digital misinformation. This makes it appear as though witch-hunting is a declining crime, while in reality, its methods have simply changed.

When a woman is killed after a WhatsApp rumor, the case is filed as murder. The role of the viral message vanishes from the statistics. Experts argue that India urgently needs a new classification: “Digital Misinformation-Triggered Violence.” Without this, policymakers cannot address the real source of the problem.

Root Causes That Fuel the Digital Spread

The digital shift has amplified witch-hunting, but the root causes remain largely the same, only layered with new challenges.

• Poverty and illiteracy leave people dependent on superstition to explain misfortune.
• Digital illiteracy makes villagers believe every forwarded message without verification.
• Patriarchy ensures women are the first scapegoats for social unrest.
• Land disputes and family revenge are often disguised as witchcraft accusations.
• Weak laws in states like Jharkhand, Bihar, and Assam address witch-hunting in general but not its online triggers.

Without tackling these underlying issues, simply banning forwards or deleting posts will not stop the violence.

What Can Be Done

There are solutions, but they require coordinated action from governments, communities, and digital platforms.

• Digital literacy programs can teach rural communities how to verify messages and identify fake content. In some districts of Assam, small-scale “WhatsApp Literacy” workshops have already begun.
• Social media companies must monitor regional-language misinformation more closely. Employing local moderators who understand cultural contexts can help flag dangerous content.
• Community fact-check groups led by local youth can act quickly to debunk rumors before mobs act.
• Stronger legal frameworks are needed to expand anti-witch-hunting laws, making the spread of superstition-related misinformation a punishable crime.

These steps are not easy, but without them, witch-hunting will continue to adapt to every new medium that emerges.

Conclusion

Witch-hunting in India has not disappeared; it has simply evolved. Once spread by whispers and gossip, it now travels at lightning speed through WhatsApp forwards and viral videos. The victims remain the same women at the margins of society but the tools of persecution have become far more powerful.

If India fails to act, the combination of ancient superstition and modern technology will continue to claim innocent lives. The lesson is clear: fighting witch-hunting today means not only challenging patriarchy and poverty but also confronting the dangerous role of digital misinformation.

Sources

• NCRB “Crime in India” Reports (2000–2022)
• Association for Social Upliftment, Jharkhand (2022 NGO Report)
• Assam Tribune field reports (2022)
• Scroll.in investigations on witch-hunting in Assam and Jharkhand